Santander, February 19th-22nd 2008 - Aranzadi

96
HALA ALARASHI
Figure 8 Detail of the ventral labral face of the cowrie n°132 showing a thin
crack line (scale bar: ¼ cm).
Figure 9 Detail of the dorsal face of the anterior extremity of the cowrie n°33
showing a notch produced by a use wear on the edge of the removed dorsum
(scale bar: ¼ cm).
(ca. 12,500 cal. BP), in the Middle Euphrates, but
only for making holes in Neritidae shells (Maréchal
1991: 608, Maréchal and Alarashi 2008: 578). The
sawing technique was applied during the PPNB
period in Cyprus to make small holes in the dorsum
part of cowries (Serrand et al. 2005). When
data are available for the same period in the Near
East, grinding technique is mentioned in many
cases for the dorsum removal (Bar-Yosef 2000,
2005, Goring-Morris et al. 1994-95, Reese 1991).
At Tell Aswad, the methods employed to remove
the dorsum part was deduced from the morphological
features of the opening ridge and the
surrounding areas. Only the grinding and the hammering
techniques were clearly evidenced,
although the sawing method or a combination of
different techniques cannot be definitely excluded.
Further analysis could improve these preliminary
observations. According to the experiments I
made on modern specimens, the grinding technique
seems to be more profitable in terms of time
and energy costs than the sawing method.
Hammering could be quite rapid as a technique
but it is more risky.
Apart from the dorsum removal, at least five
cowries were perforated at Tell Aswad. Two
methods were employed to make holes: drilling on
the ventral face and direct or indirect percussion
on the dorsal convex part. Given the low number
of specimens, it cannot be asserted that this
observation reflects a general trend. However, it is
interesting to highlight the originality of the location
of the drilled perforations. As far as I know, holes
made on the ventral face of the cowries were never
documented for the Neolithic times in the region.
Moreover, when perforated cowries are mentioned
in the archaeological literature – exclusively on the
dorsal face – the techniques employed are either
sawing (e.g. Serrand et al. 2005: fig. 5n) or percussion
(e.g. Bienert and Gebel 2004: fig. 13-10).
At Tell Aswad, the ventral perforation concerns not
only cowries without dorsum but also the unique
specimen with dorsum found at the site.
The presence of a series of incisions on two
cowrie beads at Tell Aswad is unexpected. Such a
feature was never described until now for other
Levantine Neolithic sites. In the case of the cowrie
n°33, the distribution of the incisions seems to
have a decorative purpose, that of emphasizing
the natural teeth of the shells. On the other hand,
the incisions made on the columellar part n°143
are relatively rough and not so well organized.
Thus, the ornamental character of the incisions is
not really evident for this object.
Cowrie shells have commonly been used as
symbols related to specific anatomic parts of the
human body such as the eye or the vulva (Gregory
1996, Goren et al. 2001, Kroeber 2001). It is delicate
to address the symbolic, esthetical or cultural
reasons for these incisions, and many possible
answers could be proposed. For instance, might
the cowrie n°33 have artificially represented a
complex natural patterning of the original shell (like
in Erosaria nebrites)? Or simply represented other
radial-structured symbols like sun, mouth or eye?
All that we can say is that, contrary to Jericho
MUNIBE Suplemento - Gehigarria 31, 2010
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